RMS Queen Mary 2 (QM2) is a British ocean liner which has been the flagship of Cunard since April 2004 and, as of 2026, remains the only ship built and used for service as an ocean liner still in active service. Queen Mary 2 sails regular transatlantic crossings between Southampton and New York City, in addition to short cruises and an annual world voyage.Queen Mary 2 Cruises Cunard Retrieved 21 January 2012
She was designed by a team of British naval architects led by Stephen Payne, and was constructed in France by Chantiers de l'Atlantique. At the time of her construction, Queen Mary 2 was the longest, at , and largest, with a gross tonnage of , passenger ship ever built. She no longer holds these records after the construction of Royal Caribbean International's (a cruise ship) in April 2006, but remains the largest ocean liner ever built.
Queen Mary 2 was intended for some crossings of the Atlantic Ocean; the final construction cost was approximately $300,000 per berth. The cost was increased by the high quality of materials; having been designed as an ocean liner, 40% more steel was required for a cruise liner than for a standard cruise ship. Queen Mary 2 has a maximum speed of just over and a cruising speed of , which is faster than a contemporary cruise ship. Instead of the common diesel-electric configuration, Queen Mary 2 uses integrated electric propulsion to achieve her top speed. Diesel engines, augmented by gas turbines, are used to generate electricity for electric motors for propulsion and for on-board use.
Queen Mary 2s facilities include fifteen restaurants and bars, four swimming pools (originally five), a casino, the largest ballroom on a ship in service, a theatre, a library, a gym, an art gallery, a golf simulator, and the first planetarium at sea.
Characteristics Queen Mary 2 is the flagship of Cunard Line. She was constructed to replace the Queen Elizabeth 2, which was the Cunard flagship from 1969 to 2004 and the last major ocean liner built before Queen Mary 2. Queen Mary 2 had the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) prefix conferred on her by the Royal Mail when she entered service in 2004, as a gesture to Cunard's history. Although general mail is no longer transported by liners, the criterion for this designation, Queen Mary 2 carries a traditional red postbox for passengers and accepts mail also through the purser's office, which has a special stamp for all letters posted aboard.
Queen Mary 2 is not a steamship like many of her predecessors, but is powered primarily by four diesel engines, with two additional gas turbines providing extra power when required; this integrated electric propulsion configuration is used to produce the power to drive her four electric propulsion pods as well as the ship's hotel services. The spaces for these prime movers are split, and controls are backed up, so that a single failure will not disable the ship.
Like her predecessor Queen Elizabeth 2 she is built for crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and is also regularly used for cruising. In the winter season she cruises from New York to the Caribbean. Queen Mary 2s open ocean speed sets the ship apart from cruise ships, such as , which has a service speed of ; Queen Mary 2s normal service speed is . While the hull of a cruise ship will typically have a block coefficient of 0.73 (1.0 would represent a rectangular block) Queen Mary 2 is more fine-lined, with a block coefficient of 0.61.
Design and construction
Cunard completed a design for a new class of , 2,000 passenger liners on 8 June 1998, but revised them upon comparing those specifications with Carnival Cruise Line's Destiny-class cruise ships and Royal Caribbean International's Voyager class.
In December 1998, Cunard released details of Project Queen Mary, the project to develop a liner that would complement Queen Elizabeth 2. Harland & Wolff of Northern Ireland, Aker Kværner of Norway, Fincantieri of Italy, Meyer Werft of Germany, and Chantiers de l'Atlantique of France were invited to bid on the project. The contract was finally signed with Chantiers de l'Atlantique, a subsidiary of Alstom, on 6 November 2000. This was the same yard that built Cunard's former rivals, the and France of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique.
Queen Mary 2s keel was laid down on 4 July 2002, in the construction dock at Saint-Nazaire, France, with the hull number G32. Approximately 3,000 craftsmen spent around eight million working hours on the ship, and around 20,000 people were directly or indirectly involved in her design, construction, and fitting out. In total, 300,000 pieces of steel were assembled into 94 "blocks" off the dry dock, which were then positioned and welded together to complete the hull and superstructure. After floating out on 21 March 2003, the Queen Mary 2 was fitted out in the large fitting out basin ("Bassin C"), the first ship to use this huge dry dock since the shipyard built large tankers in the 1970s, such as . Her sea trials were conducted during 25–29 September and 7–11 November 2003, between Saint-Nazaire and the offshore islands of Île d'Yeu and Belle-Île.
The final stages of construction were marred by a fatal accident on 15 November 2003, when a gangway collapsed under a group of shipyard workers and their relatives who had been invited to visit the vessel. In total, 16 people were killed and another 32 people injured after a fall into the drydock.
Construction was completed on schedule. On 22 December 2003, Queen Mary 2 left Saint-Nazaire and arrived in Southampton, England, on 26 December 2003. On 8 January 2004, the liner was officially named by Queen Elizabeth II.Davidson, Carla. "Long Live the Queens",American Heritage, August/September 2005.
Exterior
Queen Mary 2s principal naval architect was Carnival's in-house designer, Stephen Payne. He intended many aspects of the ship's design to resemble notable aspects of former ocean liners, such as the ship's predecessor Queen Elizabeth 2 and her predecessors Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. These include the three thick black lines known as "hands" that wrap around either edge of the ship's bridge screen, and at the stern end of the superstructure, which are to recall the appearance of the crossovers of the forward decks on the first Queen Mary.
Queen Mary 2 has of exterior deck space, with wind screens to shield passengers in rough seas. The ship was originally constructed with five swimming pools. However, the shallow "Splash Pool" on Deck 13 was removed during the ship's 2016 refurbishment to make room for additional staterooms. Two of her remaining four swimming pools are outdoors. There are indoor pools on deck 7, in the Canyon Ranch Spa Club, and on Deck 12. The Pavilion Pool on Deck 12 is covered with a retractable magrodome.
In common with liners such as , there is a continuous wrap-around promenade deck (deck 7). This passes behind the bridge screen and allows passengers to circumnavigate the deck while protected from the winds; one circuit is long. The flanking promenades are created by the need to step the superstructure to allow space for lifeboats. By SOLAS standards, these should have been lower on the hull ( above the waterline), but for the sake of appearance as well as to avoid the danger of large waves damaging the boats, Payne convinced SOLAS officials to exempt Queen Mary 2 from this requirement, and the boats are above the waterline.
Payne's original intention was for a stern profile with a spoon shape, similar to most previous liners, but the mounting of the propeller pods required a flat transom. The compromise was a Costanzi stern – a combination of the two, which provides the transom required for azimuthal pod propulsors and has better seaholding characteristics in a following swell. In common with many modern ships, Queen Mary 2 has a bulbous bow to reduce drag and thereby increase speed, range, and fuel efficiency."Queen Mary 2: Built to keep alive the traditions of the great ocean liners" Professional Mariner (2003) Retrieved 11 December 2009
While of a design similar to that of Queen Elizabeth 2, Queen Mary 2s funnel has a slightly different shape, because a taller funnel would have made it impossible for the ship to pass under the Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge in New York City at high tide. The final design permits a minimum of of clearance under the bridge.
As Queen Mary 2 is too large to dock in many ports, passengers are often ferried to and from the ship in tenders, which can also be used as lifeboats. These are stored at sea in davits alongside the lifeboats. To transport passengers ashore the tenders pull up to one of four loading stations, each of which has a large hull door that opens hydraulically to form a boarding platform, complete with railings and decking.
Queen Mary 2 was designed as a post-Panamax ship, too wide to use the Panama Canal before its expansion in 2016. As a result, prior to her world cruise in 2026 (where she transited the canal for the first time), she had to circumnavigate South America to transit between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The decision not to constrain her width to transit the Panama Canal was taken as Queen Elizabeth 2 only transited once a year, during the world cruise. Cunard decided to pass up the convenience of the occasional passage in favour of a greater passenger capacity.
Interior As is the case with many modern passenger ships, many of the major public rooms on board Queen Mary 2 are on the lowest public decks of the ship, with the passenger cabins stacked above. Deck 2, the lowest passenger deck, contains the Illuminations theatre, cinema and planetarium (the first at sea); Royal Court Theatre; Grand Lobby; "Empire Casino"; "Golden Lion Pub"; and the lower level of the "Britannia Restaurant". Deck 3 holds the upper levels of "Illuminations", the "Royal Court theatre" and the "Britannia Restaurant", as well as a small shopping arcade, "Veuve Cliquot champagne bar", the "Chart Room", "Sir Samuel's" wine bar, the "Queen's Room", and the "G32" Nightclub. The other main public deck is Deck 7, on which are the "Canyon Ranch Spa", "Carinthia Lounge", "King's Court", the "Queen's Grill Lounge", and the "Queen's Grill" and "Princess Grill" restaurants for higher-fare passengers. The public rooms on Deck 8 include the à la carte "Verandah Restaurant", an 8,000-volume library (the largest of any cruise ship), a book shop and the upper part of the Canyon Ranch Spa. Also on Deck 8 is a large outdoor pool and terrace at the stern.QM2 Deck Plans Cunard. Retrieved 3 June 2022 The kennels, located aft on starboard side of Deck 12, are available only for transatlantic crossings. They can accommodate up to twenty-two dogs (the kennels will also take cats) in small and large cages.
The King's Court area on the ship is open twenty four hours a day, serving as a buffet restaurant for breakfast and lunch. The overall space is divided into quarters, with each section decorated according to the theme of the four separate alternate dining venues that are "created" each evening through lighting, tableware, and menus: Lotus, which specialises in Asian cuisine; the Carvery, a British style grille; La Piazza, with Italian food; and the Chef's Galley, which offers an interactive experience to food preparation.